If you go

The Orange County Great Park board and the Irvine City Council meet in the council chambers at 1 Civic Center Plaza at Irvine's City Hall.

When: 1 p.m. today

Who: Great Park Board of Directors

What: A special meeting was arranged to discuss and make recommendations to the council about three council-member proposals.

When: 5 p.m. Tuesday

Who: Irvine City Council

What: The council is expected to vote on the three members proposals related to the Great Park.

To the appointed directors on the Orange County Great Park Corp. board, an attempt by the new political majority of Irvine City Council to oust them from their posts breaks a promise made with the majority of Orange County voters who in 2002 chose a park over an airport.

"We sought to have a county park. It was never intended or thought of, simply, as an Irvine park," said retired Marine Lt. Col. William Kogerman of Laguna Hills, one of four appointed members of the nine-member board.

But an Irvine councilman sees the move as keeping a promise to Irvinevoters in November. Councilman Jeff Lalloway supports winnowing the nine-member board to the five-member elected Irvine City Council.

"I'm surprised that the independent directors and the Great Park board as it's currently situated don't understand that the voters have spoken and they'd like a different direction for the Great Park," he said Sunday. "Every employee and every dollar spent at the Great Park is a city of Irvine employee and dollar. Those decisions ultimately should be made by an elected, accountable-to-the-voter person, not someone who's appointed and has no accountability to the voters of Irvine."

Irvine owns the park's land; the Great Park staff is paid by the city, too, and any decision the board has made for more than a few years has required approval from the City Council majority – that's no secret.

But appointed board members say removing them – they hail from Santa Ana, Newport Beach, Laguna Hills and Laguna Beach – will hamper fundraising and lobbying efforts as well as support from the rest of the region and voters who passed Measure W.

In 2002, 58 percent of Orange County voters supported Measure W, which promised an expansive regional park where a commercial airport would otherwise have been built at the former El Toro Marine base.

Irvine's political see-saw shifted in November when a three-person voting bloc led for 12 years by Irvine Councilman Larry Agran was replaced. Each member in the new three-person self-described conservative majority introduced a significant Great Park-related proposal in the agenda for the first council meeting of the year, to be held Tuesday. The proposals would eliminate the board's appointed directors, request a forensic audit and terminate contracts for public relations work and lobbying. The Great Park board meets todayto talk about the proposals that Kogerman characterized as a counterproductive gambit and political vendetta.

Each appointed member has brought something unique and necessary to the board said, Irvine Councilwoman Beth Krom, chairwoman of the Great Park board and Irvine council's voting minority on most issues.

Kogerman has a military focus; Michael Pinto, the former president of the Laguna Canyon Foundation, knows environmental preservation and nonprofits; Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido leads one of the county's largest cities, and James "Walkie" Ray has a development and fundraising background.

Pinto said donors outside Irvine might be less likely to support something they perceive to be a city park. "People can sometimes be very parochial," he said.

Pulido said that if he and other appointed members are removed, "then I suggest they call it an Irvine park." Ray did not return a call seeking comment.

The Great Park Balloon soars near a hangar turned musuem at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Michael Pinto, one of four appointed board members of the Orange County Great Park board.
Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, one of four appointed board members of the Orange County Great Park.
William Kogerman, an appointed director for the Orange County Great Park. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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